Epilepsy & Seizures Support Group

Epilepsy (often referred to as a seizure disorder) is a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. It is commonly controlled with medication, although surgical methods are used as well. Seizures (or convulsions) are temporary abnormal electrophysiologic phenomena of the brain, resulting in abnormal synchronization of electrical neuronal...

Before jumping to conclusions be sure you do ore then just read one article in one paper about the study. I am always cautious of studies such as this. HOW did they do the study? Who was involved? WHAT were they trying to prove in the first place? WHO were the patients and what was their wellbeing before the study? What is the intent of the study? What other factors were at play? How may participants were there? What was the numbers vs. the general population?

AND the big question???? Many of these studies are done to prove something else entirely and they discover something else they did not intend too---so there is no way to know if they information is gained in a way that is not jeopardized by other factors the study failed to control.

The combination of phenobarbital and alcohol that at least some members of a cult apparently took to commit suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., is well known to be a lethal mixture.

It generally kills painlessly by producing drowsiness, coma and collapse of the circulatory system.

Phenobarbital is a barbiturate drug that doctors have long prescribed for its sedative and anti-seizure properties. Doctors generally warn patients taking phenobarbital or other barbiturates not to take alcohol, which can increase greatly the barbiturate's sedative and depressant effects on brain activity.

Like all barbiturates, phenobarbital acts on the central nervous system. The effects of its combination with alcohol depend largely on the amounts of each taken.

Among those who died in Rancho Santa Fe, at least some had apparently mixed the phenobarbital with pudding or apple sauce and then taken it with vodka, said Dr. Brian Blackbourne, the San Diego County Medical Examiner.

Officials investigating the mass suicide who spoke at a news conference yesterday did not say how much of each was believed to have been ingested. Tests of blood and stomach contents, routinely performed in autopsies, could yield that information.

Phenobarbital generally goes to work 10 minutes to an hour after ingestion; the interval depends in part on the amount of food in the stomach. The drug causes drowsiness, and in large amounts produces coma. Because it also depresses the mechanisms that drive the body to breathe automatically, respirations become shallow and usually fewer.

The combination of phenobarbital and alcohol reduces blood pressure and depresses the brain's centers that help make the heart beat regularly. With a large enough dose, circulation fails. The result is death.

The combination is often used in suicide. The radical protester Abbie Hoffman, for example, killed himself in 1989 by taking about 150 phenobarbital pills and washing them down with alcohol.

Pharmacology texts credit phenobarbital, introduced about 1912, as having been the first effective drug for epileptic seizures. But barbiturates have since generally been replaced by valium and other members of the family of drugs known as benzodiazepines, because these are generally considered safer.

Nevertheless, barbiturates are still used for some purposes, among them emergency treatment of convulsions like those resulting from strokes.

A friend sent this to me..As far as I can see, grief will never truly end.It may become softer overtime, more gentleand some days will feel sharp.But grief will last as long as Love does - ForeverIt's simply the way the absence of your loved onemanifests in your heart. A deep longing accompaniedby the deepest Love some days. The heavy fog mayreturn and the next day, it may recede.Once again, it's...

Today is my 25th birthday, to my somewhat lack of surprise I can see already no one really seems to care. I've always been the kinda person to make sure that everyone I Care about feels appreciated and knew somebody had their back. I can count 4 times this year when I Went out of my way to make sure a "friend" felt good on their birthday, especially if they got left hanging. Its early in the...

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